Le Tigre on How a Tampon Jingle Became Their Hillary Anthem “I'm With Her”

The same day Donald Trump interrupted his opponent to call her “such a nasty woman,” Le Tigre returned to throw their support behind Hillary Clinton with a song called “I'm With Her.” The dance-punk trio of Kathleen Hanna, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman never exactly broke up—there was a hiatus, Hanna took time away from music to deal with health issues, and they all went their separate ways to work on different projects. After more than a decade of silence, it makes perfect sense that this election—one that could elect either the first woman president or a reality TV star who has been accused of sexual assault multiple times—is what would bring them back together.

Fateman and Hanna had been talking for a while about doing a song for the election. After sending tracks back and forth, Hanna started singing over a song Samson and Fateman had sent her years earlier, for a project that fell through. The song came together quickly from there. “I was leaving for tour in five days, and I was like, ‘We've just got to go into the studio, I'm going to find some place now,’" Hanna told Pitchfork by phone late Tuesday night. From there, they called director Laura Parnes, who—along with producer Tanya Selvaratnam—put together the song’s video on behalf of Filmmakers for Hillary.

“I'm With Her” was finished two days before the 2005 audio was released of Trump explaining to Billy Bush how he could get away with sexual assault because he was a celebrity. “It was still looking like he had a good chance,” Hanna said. “We were all like, ‘We can't not have said something—we have to use the very limited amount of power we have to actually speak our minds.’"

When Hanna announced that Le Tigre were returning for one song, she made it clear that it was just that—a one-off. When asked about the future of the group, however, all three members left the door open. “I’m With Her” reignited something that had never fully went away. “In doing the gang vocals, there was a moment where I remember myself looking at Jo and Kathleen like, ‘We’ve still got it,’” Samson told Pitchfork in a phone interview alongside Fateman.

Pitchfork: What conversations led to this song?

Johanna Fateman: I was talking to Kathleen and she wanted to do something for this election. In that conversation, it seemed like the right occasion to have a more old-school Le Tigre song with three voices and dialogue. It seemed fun to get back together for a project like this, and it seemed important. To me, Le Tigre is sort of a concept or a platform that’s always had a very forthright political message.

Kathleen Hanna: Obviously, we're really upset about the state of the election. It's horrifying, as everybody knows, that we could have a totally fascist president. Every day it gets worse and worse and worse. We just want to get everyone to vote and be a part of the noise. I can't do phone banks because I have to save my voice for stage, so the least I can do is a song.

JD Samson: My favorite part of this story is that Johanna and I wrote the original track for a pop star [Bebe Rexha, for her project with Pete Wentz called Black Cards], who decided not to use it, so it was kind of sitting around. And Kathleen was interested in doing a commercial for some tampons, so she asked if she could use that instrumental and make a tampon commercial out of it, which we were totally psyched about.

KH: [Laughs] Yeah, I got hit up for a tampon commercial and so I asked [JD and Jo] if they had anything. Jo sent that over and I was like, “I love this track. Oh my god. It's so upbeat. It's so positive. It would be so great for a tampon commercial.” That commercial never came through, so then I just had it. I was like, “That would be great for a Hillary song.” I think it's so funny that it could be a tampon commercial. I mean, I almost wish we would've filmed a whole fake tampon commercial around [“I’m With Her”].

Le Tigre has been dormant for more than a decade now. What is it about this election specifically that made reuniting for a call to action feel necessary?

JS: We have written about elections often. The last record that came out for us was right before the last time Bush stole the election. We actually started the tour the day that we found out the results. It was really emotional for us. Creating that radical space for people to be protesting even after the election was really important for us. With this election, obviously with the news infiltrating our brains, focusing so much on misogyny and feminism, it’s been important for us to show our voices and celebrate the fact that there is the potential for an awesome woman to be the president of the United States.

JF: The stakes are very high. I remember thinking that the world was facing a total apocalypse when Bush won the election. Now that seems really mild compared to a candidate who actively fosters the emboldening of racist hate groups—who panders to the absolute ugliest, most dangerous elements of this country in terms of hatred of women, of non-white people, of immigrants. It’s very scary to see the emergence of this neo-fascist movement in our country, and the fact that it is going to be—knock-on-wood—a woman who will vanquish this guy is amazing.

JS: It’s fucking rad.

JF: When you take stock, like, what do I have that I can use against the very real threat of this person becoming one of the most powerful people in the world? We don’t have a lot. It’s not like we have unlimited resources or a huge voice, but we do have the voice of Le Tigre that’s larger than my voice and JD’s. That’s why I felt it was important to give something in this way. We don’t want to wake up the day after the election saying, “What could we have done?”

Do you listen to what Trump says at this point?

KH: If I focus too much on him like I am right now, I just get stressed out. When I get stressed out my de-stress default is—not cat videos—but I just watch his surrogates. They're so entertaining. It's like escapees from the Nordstrom cosmetics counter. I search the phrase “Kellyanne Conway fails,” and I'm just watching that Scottie [Nell Hughes] woman smirk all the time. I read this thing that was about facial expressions. It was like, “A smirk can mean only one thing: disgust.” So she's sitting there being asked about all of the abuse allegations and groping allegations, and the whole time she has the biggest smirk on her face. I was like, “Oh my god, I hope you're secretly grossed out about everything that Trump has been doing.” But why is it such a shock to anybody? He's said so many things that show who he is and how ignorant he is from the beginning.

I think this whole Billy Bush thing just pushed women over the edge because it's so visceral. Now all these people—male and female—are just having massive PTSD attacks. I was groped on an airplane when I was 19—the first time I got to ride in first class by a fluke. One of the women, who also got to ride in first class by a fluke, was groped by him, and she snuck back into her economy seat to get away from him. I did the same thing on a plane. I'm just remembering this, remembering that, remembering the time my boss gave me a backrub and I blamed myself. I was like, “I don't want to rock the boat because I can't lose my work-study job, because that's how I'm paying for college.” So many people are hearing this and being stuck remembering all these things that have happened to them—flashing back and getting angry. It's just scary. Then you have these Stepford wives who are negating other women. But that's their job. Trump is the one who is to blame, no matter how much I enjoy watching his surrogates fail massively.

JS: I’ve been pretty obsessed with watching the news throughout this election. It’s kind of the first time I’ve done that. It’s been really interesting to see how the media has brought him to the place he’s at in terms of fostering this fanbase that’s interested in the most famous president. They’re interested in the host of “The Apprentice” as their leader. I definitely listen to what Trump says—we need to hear it because we need to hear what is possible if we do not vote for Hillary Clinton.

There are a lot of anti-Trump songs, but pretty much no songs that are pro-Hillary. Did that seem like a void that needed filling?

KH: No, we made it because we support Hillary. We're saying that strongly. “I'm with her,” I don't think that we can be any less strident. She's the best person for the job.

JF: We’re coming off of a really fractious rollercoaster of a Democratic primary that divided a lot of our extended community around Hillary vs. Sanders. I really try to counter the narrative that Hillary’s not exciting by saying that I am very excited by her, that I find her likable and inspiring. The irony always gets me: Le Tigre were touring and registering voters and talking about John Kerry on stage every night. We never got any pushback, but now, it’s not cool to support Hillary in this epic, historic battle for life as we know it? It’s ludicrous. Hillary’s doing an amazing job. Her debate performances are astounding and moving and I’m super excited about her being a leader.

Are you still seeing a lot of apathy or negativity about Clinton from your peers?

JS: Yes. A lot of people in my community have a lot of criticisms of Hillary, her use of money and her capitalism. Just today, I saw two things on my personal Facebook feed that were negative Hillary messages, and I really couldn’t believe it at this late point in the game given how much we have to lose. It made me feel really upset, and it made me feel really happy that we made the decision to do this.

KH: I feel like so many people are ashamed. Maybe I don't agree with every decision she’s ever made, but she's extremely qualified. The fact that she's been pushed so far left is a great step in the right direction. And there's never been a president I've voted for that I haven’t had a disagreement with. The longer you stay at one job, the more mistakes you make. In her case, mistakes can get people killed. I'm not excited about some of her record in terms of war and violence in other countries.

But the fact of the matter is, she's a really good politician. I think sometimes she's had to sign things that she wasn't given the correct information on. I think she's made mistakes. I cried the day healthcare was rejected when Bill Clinton was in office. I didn't have healthcare at the time. I remember having a really bad infection and crying on the phone and begging people to see me and let me get on a billing plan or something because I had no money. It was a really important shift for me that people have healthcare. Hillary didn't give up. That's a big reason why I'm behind her.

What’s the future of Le Tigre from here?

JF: Well, I think this experience has taught us to never say never. We’re all super busy. Even doing one song has been totally insane. Kathleen’s on tour, JD is doing a million things, I’m doing a million things. We’re not in the same place as we were over a decade ago.

KH: After just working with them on this—whether people love or hate the song, I could give a shit—I just love being with them. They're two of the smartest and most amazing people I've ever met. If they ever did feel like working together, I wouldn't say no, just depending on the circumstances. I'm in another band now, and they're doing other projects. I feel like if people wanted us to play a show or something, like if we really wanted to donate money to get the pipes fixed in Flint, I would totally get together with them in a minute. If we could use our band to help with some of the issues that are really near and dear to our hearts, we would definitely consider it.